Higgins not entering NBA draft

The senior-to-be has decided not to put his name in the draft and participate in the pre-draft camps, even though underclassmen can remove their names and return to school so long as they don’t sign with an agent.

“Cory is not going to do that,” Colorado head coach Jeff Bzdelik told me after returning from the Final Four. “On the court he has a first-hand, full understanding of what the process is. There is no need to go through it this year because he has said he is already coming back anyway.”

Bzdelik was a longtime scout, assistant and head coach in the NBA who can give Higgins some honest, accurate advice on where he would realistically be taken in the draft.

And if the two-time All-Big 12 honoree wants a second opinion his dad, Rod Higgins, is the general manager of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Higgins is projected as a second-round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Alec Burks, the reigning Big 12 freshman of the year, is currently projected as a lottery pick should he enter the draft a year from now.

Bzdelik said the gifted Burks is as motivated as ever to improve his game after the Buffs’ season came to a disappointing end at the Big 12 tournament last month.

“Alec Burks is an extremely competitive young man and he shares the same common goal as all of us and that is to get this program at a national elite status where we are consistently in postseason play,” Bzdelik said. “Everybody is working hard to do that and we all know we need to get better.”

Check out tomorrow’s Camera or Buffzone.com for a CU hoops notebook that will include Bzdelik’s take on the NCAA Tournament possibly expanding to 96 teams.

About ryan

Ryan Thorburn has been a sports writer at the Camera since 2000. He covered the Denver Broncos beat for eight seasons (2000-2007). For the last six years Ryan has been covering the University of Colorado athletic department, including beat writing duties on men's basketball and column writing on football.